A Date with Destiny Awaits
- Updated: August 9, 2016
Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Revolution booked their ticket to the U.S. Open Cup title match by beating the Chicago Fire 3-1 in Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup semifinal match at Gillette Stadium.
Kei Kamara scored from the spot in the 16th minute after Kelyn Rowe was fouled inside the box to give the hosts an early lead. Chicago brought one back in the 40th minute on a nifty David Accam goal that was immediately answered by Je-Vaughn Watson in the 42nd minute. Teal Bunbury put the match to bed with an 85th minute tally.
The Revolution will face the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between the LA Galaxy and FC Dallas in the Sept. 21 final, which will either be played at the StubHub Center or Toyota Stadium. The Revolution won the tournament in 2007.
Less than three weeks after needing a late goal to eek out a win over the Fire in league play, the Revolution pounced early in Tuesday’s semifinal. Moments after Chris Tierney sent a searching ball for Diego Fagundez, the Homegrown Player found Rowe in the box and was immediately fouled by Rodrigo Ramos to earn the penalty, which Kamara buried with ease in the 16th minute.
Despite the early deficit – oh, and the fact they hadn’t won on the road in two years – the Fire refused to quit, and showed as much in the 40th minute. Michael de Leeuw put short ball ahead for Accam inside the area, and after ducking a sliding tackle from Je-Vaughn Watson, put it past Brad Knighton for the equalizer.
Accam’s goal stood for a mere two minutes when Watson made up for his defensive blunder by getting heading through the remnants of a Tierney corner kick in the 42nd minute.
Chicago found a chance to level it again in the 55th minute. Arturo Alvarez sent a long cross ahead to de Leeuw, whose point-blank shot narrowly cleared the bar.
But any hopes of the Fire climbing back came to an end in the 85th minute when Bunbury uncorked a long shot that journeyed its way into the back of the net to widen the margin.
The Revolution return to action on Saturday for league against the recently-traded Charlie Davies and the Philadelphia Union at Gillette Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:30pm. The Union claimed a 3-0 win over the Revolution in their first meeting of the season on Mar. 20.
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